Before Now (I never even wondered)
by The Grimreaper PT
Summary: The Inception team are trying out some new technology when Cobb becomes distressed and leaves. Arthur decides that as the two most senior dreamworkers left only they should do the test runs. Soon though they start to wonder about each others past as the software delves deeper into their subconscious. This fic crosses multiple fandoms and became a sort of challenge to myself.
1. Shutter Island

Note: This story came to me from nowhere and presented itself to me as a sort of challenge. Namely how many fandoms can I fit into a single story where the only cross over is the actors who played them. Unfortunately I have not seen everything that either Tom Hardy or Joseph Gordon-Levitt have made over the years, and some obviously wouldn't fit with the story I had in mind. But I will see how I do. I may even try to crow-bar in some Leonardo Dicaprio and Ellen Page movies as I go. In fact just to start us off this chapter contains spoilers for Shutter Island.

Before Now (I Never Even Wondered)

It all started with a scream, which was not what anyone was expecting, not even Arthur. And he was usually prepared for anything.

Ever since Inception they had all been relying on Arthur to keep them on track. After everything that had happened it was Arthur leading the team and making the decisions, not Dom. He was the one that decided to go legitimate and one by one the others had followed. Eames and Ariadne and Yusuf and eventually Dom had all followed Arthur when he agreed to test the latest in dreamsharing technology. That was what they had been doing when they heard the scream and the sobbing that followed.

They were taking it in turns to test a new system. Someone had developed a new machine so that you could explore fictional worlds in your dreams without a whole team of people to look after you while you did it. A whole series of 'games' had been developed for this machine and it was their job to test the whole thing and iron out the bugs. But now something was wrong. Dom had gone into the room they used to dream sometime before, with one of the 'games' that he had chosen at random. And everything had been as they expected until he screamed.

 _Dom walked around the side of the Cabin lookong for his wife. He had been worried about her for a long time, but hopefully the move would help her. Finally as he came to the back of the house he spotted her in the porch swing. She looked so calm swinging back and forth and looking out over the water._

 _As he walked Mal turned to face him and stood. It was only when she started to walk towards him that he noticed there was something wrong. Her floral dress was soaking wet, her hair was dripping and her feet were bare._

 _"Baby, why're you all wet?"_

 _But she ignored his question, instead throwing her arms around him and kissing him._

 _"I missed you. I want to go home."_

 _Dom's brow crumpled as he pulled back to look at her._

 _"You are home. Where are the kids?"_

 _Something was wrong, something was very wrong._

 _"Oh, they're at school"_

 _Alarm bells started to ring in Dom's head and the panic set in._

 _"It's Saturday, Honey. School's not in on Saturday."_

 _The smile on her face confirmed just how wrong the situation was as she replied._

 _"My school is."_

 _He didn't want to turn around and see what she meant, he couldn't._

 _"Mal?"_

 _When she just kept smiling he couldn't put it off any longer. He turned and saw them, the bodies in the water._

 _"Oh my god... Oh Jesus god no... Not my babies, please god, please no... Please god no."_

 _He rushed to the water and pulled them one by one out of the water. All the while he could hear her humming behind him, completely detached from what she had done, what she had taken from him._

 _"Let's put them in the kitchen."_

 _It took a moment for him to realise that she had spoken at all, but eventually the words penetrated._

 _"What?"_

 _Numb he didn't protest as she manouved so that she was straddling him with his head pressed into her shoulder. All he could do was cry unable to process what was going on as she kept talking._

 _"Let's sit them at the table, Dom. We'll dry them off, change their clothes."_

 _He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't listen to her talking like that, not about their children._

 _"Please stop talking."_

 _But she didn't listen, she just kept going. Adding to his torture._

 _"They'll be our living dolls. Tomorrow we can take them on a picnic."_

 _Closing his eyes, Dom tried to push her words out of his head._

 _"If you ever loved me... Please stop talking."_

 _He wasn't actually sure that he had heard what she said next, or whether it was what he wanted to hear her say._

 _"I need you to love me. I need you to free me."_

 _He moved the gun from his side and pushed it into her ribs as she kept talking._

 _"We'll give them baths."_

 _His finger twitched as he readied himself for what he was about to do._

 _"I love you Mal."_

 _Her voice was soft and calm as she spoke again and for the last time._

 _"I love you too. I love you so much. I love you like..."_

 _Then he pulled the trigger, flinching at the loud noise._

Arthur jumped up instantly. He recognised that sound, he had heard it before and he never wanted to hear it again. Rushing to the door Arthur yanked it open so that he could get to his friend as quickly as possible. What he found was a distraught Dominic Cobb hastily packing away the machine between sobs.

"Cobb? Is everything alright? Cobb?"

Dom's head snapped towards the door but it took him a moment to place who he was seeing. When he recognised his long term friend and colleague however he relaxed a little and managed to speak.

"Arthur, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. But I have to go. I have to see my children. I'm sorry but I'll explain tomorrow."

With that he rushed past Arthur who had moving slowly into the room with Eames moving unnoticed behind him. As Dominic disappeared the forger strode over to the machine and looked at the game box beside it. He was curious to see what could have affected the extractor so badly.

"What was it?"

Arthur asked, concern clear on his face and in his voice. Legal work had mellowed him slightly. Not much, but enough for the serial people watcher in Eames to pick up on.

"Shutter Island. It's some sort of mystery game set in an asylum."

The pointman nodded realising what had happened. He remembered seeing the name on the list of games the company had sent. He had actually meant to remove it from the pile before Dom made his selection, but as usual Eames had been distracting him with some tall tale or other and he had forgotten. One of the avaliable characters in this particular game had an alarming back story. This character had lost both his wife and his children, killing her after she had gone mad and killed the kids. No wonder Dom was jumpy, after everything that he had already gone through. At that moment he made a decission.

"I think for the moment at least Mr Eames, we should put off any solo tests. I suggest that we test only multi-player games or possibly single-player games where we can add an observer. We don't know how much our own personalities can impact on these games yet and I don't want to take anymore chances. In fact for the moment I don't think the others should go under at all."

With Dom's departure he and Eames were the most seasoned dreamworkers. Ariadne still seamed so young to them, and Yusuf by his own admittion rarely went into the field. Besides he had looked into the forger's past. And although he hadn't found much, he knew enough to know that Eames could handle himself in any situation.

"You know darling, if you wanted to spend more time with me, you only had to ask."

Arthur resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he left the room. He needed to let Ariadne and Yusuf know what was happening. The architect probably wouldn't like it, she was so new in the business that she wanted to spend every single moment in a dream. But Arthur couldn't put anyone else in danger. He felt bad enough about the whole situation after what Dominic had just been through, without accidently doing the same thing to the others.

Meanwhile Eames flicked through the pile of games. He understood where Arthur was coming from which is why he had made the remark in the first place. Obviously he was feeling guilty about whatever it was that had distressed Cobb so much. The point man was always doing that, taking mistakes onto himself rather than blaming others. Personally he thought that Dom should have paid more attention to which game he was thinking of testing. But it was Arthur's way. The safety of the team was his top priority.

That gave him an idea. Grinning Eames pulled a box from the pile of games. He had just the perfect game for Arthur and his goody two-shoes need to look after everyone.

"Have you picked something Eames?"

Arthur asked as he stepped back into the small room. The forger had a worrying smirk on his face which didn't bode well for their test.

"I did indeed. 'The Dark Knight Rises'. I think you'd make a smashing Batman my dear."

With a resigned sigh the pointman sat down on one of the lawn chairs and rolled up his shirt sleeves.

"Whatever you say Mr Eames, but I'm not looking forward to seeing who you end up as. By the look of that shirt, you'll end up as the Mad Hatter."

The only reply he got was a laugh from the forger as he sterted the PASIV machine and they fell into unconsciousness.


	2. The Dark Knight Rises

Note: I know that it is an obvious place to start, but it fits. So this chapter involves 'The Dark Knight Rises'. As well as some other little hints (can you guess the references?)

Before Now (I Never Even Wondered)

When Arthur first opened his eyes again in the real world, he was more than a little disorientated. They had only been under for a few hours, but it had felt like weeks. Of course he was used to the time difference by now, he had been working in the business for a long time. But he had never spent so long as somebody else.

'My name is Arthur Hansen, Hansen not Blake.'

He thought as he fingered the dice in his pocket.

'My parents are Richard and Janet. I'm not an orphan.'

" _My mum died when I was small. It was a car accident. I don't really remember it. But my dad got shot a couple years later… and I remember that one just fine."_

Closing his eyes Arthur thought about his parents. They were both still alive. His father was living in Ohio with his second wife Mary. And his Mother was in New York with her husband Guy, and daughter. As his half sister Rachel's face appeared in his mind he calmed. She could always do that, bring him back to reality. One of the few solid points in his life, one of the few constants, his sister's face with the worried frown too old for her young face..

The most troubling thing, he supposed and the thing sticking in his mind, was the way that you selected a character in the games. Or rather the way you didn't, because the system did it for you. The software automatically selected your character based on your personality and previous experiences. Essentially you ended up with whatever character the game decided was most like you. This thought gave Arthur pause as he tried to shake off the remnants of Officer Blake from his mind, trying not to think about the possible reasons why the game had assigned him the alter ego that it had.

After a moment he looked over at the forger beside him. Was Eames having as much trouble as he was coming back to reality? He doubted it. Eames was used to becoming someone else in a dream, to him it was like changing clothes turning himself into another person. But he didn't seem as composed as Arthur had expected him to be. Something was wrong. The forger had disconnected himself from the machine and without another word was heading towards the door.

"Eames?"

But the Englishman didn't even turn his head.

"Not right now Arthur. I'll see you in the morning."

Eames couldn't face anyone at that moment. How could he after what he had just been living.

 _Eames strode out onto the football field and grinned beneath his mask. Already he could feel the tension in the stadium. Soon there would be panic and fear. He would have the whole of Gotham under his control, a false hope to dangle in front of this pathetic city while he destroyed it once and for all._

Eames knew that he wasn't exactly a good person. He had done some terrible things but it was still a blow to see how the game had seen him. Was that how everyone saw him? Was that how Arthur saw him? Without acknowledging either Yusuf or Ariadne as he passed them, Eames left the building and made his way back to his apartment as quickly as he could without running. He had done that enough in his life.

Knowing that there was no way that he would be able to catch the Forger, Arthur continued to pack up the equipment. It was too late to do another run today anyway. Besides it would probably be best to completely recover from the first game before moving on to a second. Maybe he could call his sister, or better yet his Father. Solidify reality in his mind before checking up on his distracted colleagues.

Meanwhile Eames let himself into the small apartment he had bought not two months before. It was nice to have somewhere of his own, somewhere that was legitimately his. He hadn't had a home, an actual home in years. Not since he had sold his cousin's bar in Brooklyn, and even then he hadn't exactly come into the property honestly. Even then he had been pretending to be someone else, and why not. He barely knew his cousin Marv, and after everything that had happened he had needed to get out of London.

As he hung up his jacket and kicked off his shoes Rocco came bounding down the hall and Eames grinned squatting down to return his dog's enthusiastic greeting. That was another perk of having his own place and going legitimate. The pit bull could live with him full time Rather than with his friend Nadia. Maybe he should give her a call. Let her know how Rocco was settling in after the move. That and maybe he could remind himself that he wasn't really a bad person, not anymore.


	3. Tommy is that you?

Note: There were not many DKR flash backs in the last chapter, as there was some stuff I needed to set up. But don't worry the references aren't confined to that particular chapter. As Arthur and Eames come to understand themselves and each other better more stuff will slot into place. This chapter has some back-story in it for Arthur. Obviously there have been some slight changes to the Movies/Series the back stories are taken from to make them fit. Still no guesses on which fandoms I took Arthurs back-story from so i won't give it away.

Before Now (I Never Even Wondered)

Arthur closed the door behind Ariadne and breathed a sigh of relief. He was still a little shaken up after the game, and yet he had been left alone to field questions from the Architect and the Chemist while the other veteran dreamworkers recovered from their experiences alone. That was what he got for being the more controlled of the three. Dom, he could understand. Even if the extractor should have read the specs for the game he had picked before starting it up, Arthur could sympathise with his friend's dilemma. But what was wrong with Eames? Of them all Arthur had expected the Forger to be the least affected by what the game could do. And yet he had stormed out without giving any explanation.

Now though, finally Arthur was alone. Finally he could try and deal with his own experiences and come firmly back to reality. Taking his phone out of his pocket and scrolling swiftly through the contacts he found his Father's number.

"Hello."

"Hi Dick, It's me."

"Tommy. It's so nice to hear from you."

"Come on Dick, you know it's not Tommy anymore."

"Well I didn't think that mattered anymore. I thought you were going to stay on the legal side from now on. Besides, I'm the High Commander I can call you whatever I want."

Arthur laughed at the old man's stubborn determination to hold on to that title despite everything that had changed over the years. Dick wasn't giving the orders anymore and he knew it.

"I am. I just wanted to catch up. How is Rutherford?"

"Oh you know, the same as always. Mary is talking about Retirement again, but I don't think we'll leave the University just yet. Harry is still working at the bar and Sally and Don are fine…"

As they talked Arthur felt better by the second. There was something about talking to his father that made him feel like a teenager again. It was just what he needed. Of course back then the two had often been at odds, but they were family. Even when they had parted ways, the day that Dick Solomon had forbid his Son Tommy from leaving to go to College and he had left anyway, Thomas Arthur Solomon had still kept in touch.

 _Tommy couldn't believe the depths that Dick was stooping to. He had tried everything that he could to convince Tommy to stay in Rutherford, even taking him to Pendleton and trying to guilt him into going there. But the problem was that Tommy just didn't want to go. When he had tried to voice this opinion though, his father had not taken it very well._

" _Oh yeah? Well guess what? This just in, you are going to Pendleton!"_

 _He couldn't believe that Dick was being so unreasonable._

" _What! No I'm not."_

 _Dick couldn't do this. Dick couldn't decide this for him._

" _You are! And that's an order."_

 _No, no he couldn't do this. The High Commander couldn't go through with this._

" _What is your problem?"_

 _But Tommy knew that above all else his Father was in charge._

" _One more word out of you and you're getting your Masters at Pendleton."_

 _This was Tommy's life that he was talking about, his future._

" _But that is…"_

 _Everything was crumbling around him and Tommy couldn't get through to Dick to tell him._

" _Care to go for your PhD?"_

 _Why wouldn't he listen?"_

" _Dick, you…"_

 _But Dick was too far gone to hear him._

" _Oh look who's on the tenure track, Dr Tommy Solomon!"_

 _He couldn't take it anymore, neither of them could so they stormed away from each other. Not really having anywhere else to go Tommy went in search of Dick's long term girlfriend Dr Mary Albright in her office._

" _Dr Albright, do you have a minute?"_

 _Mary smiled and plastered a false smile across her face. Tommy had seen that smile a lot over the last few days on almost everyones face. It was the smile that all of his father's friends wore while they tried to convince him that Pendleton was the place to be._

" _Oh, sure Tommy. Here at Pendleton, our doors are always open to prospective students."_

 _Tommy sighed and sat down across from Dr Albright._

" _Thanks, uh. It's about Dick. I'm really worried. He's being incredibly selfish and bullheaded."_

 _The false smile fell from Mary's face._

" _And?"_

 _Tommy Laughed. His father was always being selfish and bullheaded. He would have to be more specific._

" _Well I need your help. We had this fight and now he's forcing me to go to Pendleton."_

 _All pretence dropped Mary moved around the desk._

" _Oh no. Oh Tommy I felt so dirty trying to get you to go to this 2-bit clown college. You are a brilliant young man. You should be able to go to any college you want. It's your life starting right now."_

 _That was exactly what he wanted, exactly what he needed._

" _But what about Dick?"_

 _Mary scoffed as she returned to her seat._

" _Oh don't worry. I'll talk to him."_

 _Tommy sighed with relief._

" _You will? Ah thanks, Dr Albright."_

 _And it worked. Mary talked to Dick and soon enough he was being dropped off at College by his father. Although Dick was still trying to convince him to stay at home._

" _You are making a big mistake mister. College is not what you think it is. It's a big ugly machine that will chew you up and spit you out. I don't approve of College."_

 _Tommy looked at his father confused._

" _You teach at a College."_

 _But Dick was becoming irrational again._

" _Oh sure, throw that in my face. You know what the problem with your generation is. You never had to work."_

 _Here we go again, Tommy thought._

" _Work? I work?"_

 _Dick Laughed._

" _Oh ha ha ah. You know what? I don't even know who you are anymore. You've changed. Oh yes, with your new life of learning, your internet, your Nintendo, your fancy friends, MTV, virtual reality, your, your, your… I don't know!"_

 _Tommy took a mental step back._

" _What are you talking about?"_

 _Dick was looking more flustered by the second._

" _What am I talking about? What am I talking about? I'll tell you what I'm talking about! I don't want you to go! I don't want you to go! I don't want you to go!"_

 _Finally understanding Tommy pulled his father over to sit down beside him._

" _Come here. Sit down."_

 _Dick huffed as he sat down._

" _Why did you have to grow up?"_

 _Tommy laughed._

" _I don't know"_

 _But Dick didn't find it funny._

" _Well I don't like it. You give love, you give encouragement, you give support and then if you do a good job they just go away."_

 _Tommy looked over at his father and smiled._

" _Well then I guess you did a pretty good job then, right."_

 _Then they were both smiling._

Then when he had left for New York to live with the Mother he hardly knew so that he could study architecture and see some more of the world, becoming Tom Hansen, they had talked every so often.

 _Tommy checked the paper in his hands for the seventh time as he stepped off the train. He hadn't seen his mother since he was 14 and yet here he was about to live with her so that he could start his postgratuate degree in architecture. He was a little nervous, but Janet Hansen had been quite enthusiastic about the whole idea over the phone. Dick hadn't been too thrilled with the idea, claiming loudly that if he left he could never come back. But he had said that three years before and never actually meant it._

 _Spotting a taxi Tommy hailed it and read the driver the address in his hand. Today he was going to start a whole new chapter in his life. Somehow his Mother had managed to get him into the program he wanted, but only by pulling in some favours. Usually Tommy could sail through the academic world, but he hadn't been paying enough attention at college, especially the first couple of years. Now though he was back on track due to the forged documents he had in his bag which officially changed his name to Thomas Arthur Hansen. It was a little strange no longer being a Solomon but as that had only been his name since he was 13 anyway he could shrug it off._

Even when he had taken his middle name to work outside the law, he had kept in touch.

 _Arthur looked at himself in the mirror one last time. Perfect. He looked perfect. This was who he was now. Completely in control of his life, Completely in control of everything. He was Arthur. Not Thomas Arthur Solomon, or Thomas Arthur Hansen. Just Arthur and he felt more at home in his skin than he ever had been before. This was who he was, who he was meant to be._

Arthur let the memories wash over him as he talked to his father, or rather while his father talked to him. Richard Solomon was ridiculously self-centered, always believing himself to be the centre of the universe. But he was used to it.

"So how's your new job going. I have to admit we were all very relieved when you stopped running around being shot at."

Arthur laughed a little at that. He had tried to explain to his father before that anyone hardly ever got close enough to him to shoot him in the real world, but it had never really sunk in.

"It's fine Dick. It's nice to be working with my team again, and it is a nice change not having to worry about people coming after us. But this new system we are testing is a little disconcerting. Especially the way the games select your character for you. It's supposed to put you into the character most like you. But I can't see how I ended up with the character I did this afternoon."

"Uh-huh. Tell me about it."

 _Arthur looked around and couldn't believe the chaos all around him. The reason that he had become a police officer was the same reason that he had idolised Batman all of these years. He wanted order, respected order. It was the opposite of everything that he hated, the chaos that had caused him to lose both of his parents. Now it was everywhere. All of the inmates of Blackgate prison had been set free. There was nothing but disorder and he hated it. Even worse was the fact that the others around him seemed to have given up. Foley, the only other officer besides the commisoner himself who was around, was refusing to fight and that left him on his own trying to organise a way out of the chaos._

 _All of his life Arthur had put his faith into the Gotham Police Department and Batman. They were the order that he craved, the cure to everything that was wrong with the world. But now all of that was crumbling around him. The police commissioner had been lieing to them all this time. Batman was missing and presumed dead. And the only other ranking officer in the whole of Gotham, was hiding away in his home._

"It's not that surprising Tommy. You've always thrived on order. Remember that time you left to hitch-hike across America with Harry…"

 _They hadn't made it very far, barely down the street, before they had to stop for a moment._

" _I thought we had more money than this."_

 _Tommy said, questioning his Uncle's earlier assessment of their situation._

" _Well I thought I had smaller holes in my pockets."_

 _Suddenly Tommy was regretting his decision to do this with Harry. But he tried to stay positive._

" _You know what? This is good. This is good news Harry. This is how stories are born. Yeah, I feel like Kerouac strolling into Bakersfield. Broke. Gotta make some strolling money."_

 _Smiling Tommy led the way inside the nearest building and introduced himself to the man behind the counter of the Garage. They emend up staying there for a few days, but soon Tommy realised that he wasn't meant for the drifter life._

" _This place looks great. You didn't have to do any of this Tommy."_

 _Tommy looked around at the once cluttered and untidy Garage._

" _Ah, Well. I have trouble working in a cluttered environment. So I inventoried the tyres, and I composted the old sandwiches, and I um stacked these oil cans."_

Arthur smiled at the memory before thanking his father and hanging up the phone. He was feeling better, but he still couldn't reconcile John Blake with himself. He had been so angry, and so detached from everyone else. Yes he and his family had been the outsideres while he was growing up. But he had thought he was past that now, especially as he had given up illegal dreamsharing. Blake was a hero, who stood up for what he believed, who preserved order and yet remained an outsider. He was nothing like John Blake, no matter what his father said.


End file.
